to be frank

Good for a laugh ...

There are a few funny things I've been saving up for a while. Not sure why, really. Here's one of them: 10 Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained.

After the tsunami: 2. What the wave brought me

A tsunami is a sudden tide of water: but with that tide of water there came so much more. Literally, rubbish of every imaginable kind, including plants, coral, smashed up buildings, furniture, people's belongings, and the contents of the sewerage and drainage systems. This is why infection is such a huge issue for those who have survived.

More than all that, the wave brought its own tide of emotional and social experiences and frankly these are much more long-term and difficult to deal with, or even describe.

After the tsunami: 1. Death comes to paradise

Samoa is a beautiful place. It has been called 'paradise' because it and its people are so beautiful. But for us, death and destruction came to paradise. How can this be?

The Tsunami Story

It's been one hell of a year.

Here, in brief, is the story of what happened when we went for a holiday in Samoa. I want to write a series of reflections on this experience, but here first of all is the basic story.

Ordination Retreat

I'm about to leave for a two day retreat with the five candidates who will be ordained early next month.

It is my privilege to lead this retreat. The very idea of an ordination retreat calls into question what we mean by each of those things: a retreat, and ordination itself.

I have done a lot of work this year trying to assist local Baptists to re-discover some of the theological meaning of ordination, within our tradition. Not an easy task!

Rugby League Redemption!

In the past year or two, one could be forgiven for asking, (to paraphrase a gospel text), 'Can any good thing come out of Rugby League?'

Sex scandals and all kinds of violent acts, reported with such relish by the media, but then also the feeling that League officials have in fact covered up an awful lot: we have to wonder if this is not a really sick culture.

But now comes this wonderful story of a young man's redemption.